Wow, did I like this episode! And they made great use of the 90-minute format.
Great episode.
Who else is glad that Liz had a bowel movement?
there are things that I don’t need to know.
It was just for the moment of comedic… relief 
I can only imagine - she kept talking about how much lighter she felt… it must have been a doozy.
RHAP (a Survivor podcast) was talking about Kenzie, saying she was Hunter’s no. 1, Tiff’s no. 1, Ben’s no. 1, seems close to Liz and Charlie. It made me think of the number of times the well-liked player has won over the more strategic player. I didn’t think much of her before, but she could actually win.
And Q was silly for not playing his idol- it could only be played two nights, and he knew he was a target. Oh well, I didnt care for his arrogance anyway.
Not at all, in fact along with Charlie- she is playing the smartest game there. What is interesting- despite her game, the camera almost never had much use for her until recently. It was all that loser tribe.
Yeah, that was weird but fun.
When the tribe is that small, there can be no “betrayals”, and they both know it.
Poor Liz, I dont care for her, but finally getting a BM is cause for celebration.
She was complaining how she had to scrabble for money, but those tats must have cost a fortune.
And, I think that is now against the rules?
Only Kensie , Charlie or Maria can win it now. Ben and Liz are goats (not G.O.A.T.)
Those two things are unrelated and not mutually exclusive. Yes, up until now she has played a good game but she has also become very entitled.
I disagree, especially the “twit” comment- she is a smart adult. She is not annoying.
I always think it’s related: the editors know who’s going to be around until the end so they give the early screen time to those who aren’t.
Many think it is the other way around “the winners edit”. True, in that episode if one Castaway is getting unusual screen time, that could be a “good bye”, but not episode after episode.
I agree. I generally hate 90 minutes; it’s just too long for this show. But this was the perfect way to show exactly what went down.
There is always that moment when the top-2 (and I do think that Charlie and Maria are the top 2 players this season) decide to turn on each other. And often it comes down to who won the challenge that episode. But Charlie was able to use his knowledge of and friendship with Kenzie and Liz to get them to vote out Q even though Maria was immune.
And by telling her what his plan was he even gave her a chance to make the right move and tell Q to play his idol. But she didn’t (not sure why not, honestly… maybe she thought he wouldn’t listen to her, or just got over-confident).
I still think Charlie is likely the next to go if he doesn’t win immunity, because Kenzie, Liz, and Ben certainly want to be Final 3 with each other, and Maria is obviously ready to cut him.
Yes, she certainly could. Definitely against Liz and Ben. Maybe against Maria. Not sure about v. Charlie, but it’s possible. Folks like her, but I’m not sure she’s done enough resume-wise. Of course we don’t get the best idea of what the jury actually thinks about individual players (the “puppy” comment about Charlie probably doesn’t bode well if that’s really what folks think of him out there).
Pretty much nothing, but yeah she is likeable.
I think Maria is more likely, only because there was a comment made this episode about her fire-making prowess.
Kenzie and Charlie pretty much blindsided her last tribal. If they hold together, Maria might go next.
I’ve been traveling, and just watched the last three episodes over the weekend, so I’ve got a little catching up to do in this thread.
The parade of idols going out in pockets has been quite remarkable. Have these people never watched Survivor before? Were they not sitting right there at the previous TC? (Granted, not everyone knew about every idol, but still…)
Q just thought he was bulletproof after being targeted and surviving so many times.
Agreed.
Agree about Charlie, but I don’t dislike anybody who’s left - except one (see above).
Disagree on both points. I laughed out loud when she dropped that ball. And I laughed even harder when she sat there with that smug look on her face and chose not to play her idol.
Neither, however, was a million-dollar mistake, as there’s no way she would have gotten any votes if she’d made it to Final.
Same here. She gave off some serious “Mean Girl” vibes in the early weeks. I think Tiff may have had a bad influence on her; since she distanced herself, she’s been much more likeable.
Fully disagree on this one. She let out some honest emotion that admittedly didn’t show her best side. But she immediately owned up to it and didn’t paint herself as a poor victim and blame everybody else for what she was feeling. It’s obviously not easy living in such a pressure cooker without blowing up at some point. She handled the aftermath well.
My take on the final five:
Maria - The best chance to win. Charlie could beat her based on his social game, but she has the best resume in challenges and strategy by a wide margin.
Charlie - Easily the most likeable player remaining. If he’s in the final three without Maria, he’s a shoe-in. With Maria, I think he has a lot of work do to make a case. He’s played a smart game, but not a flashy one.
The next three have no chance at all if they make Final against Maria and/or Charlie.
Kenzie - Everybody seems to like her, which would work in her favor. She’s the last remaining member of the “loser” tribe, which could paint her as the scrappy underdog. But she’s she hasn’t really made any moves of her own, and was in the dark for more than one vote. In a Kenzie/Ben/Liz Final, I’d give her the slight edge.
Ben - He could make the case that he’s been smart enough to always be on the right side of the vote. I think that’s been mostly true, but not entirely. He hasn’t really pissed anyone off. Other than that, he doesn’t bring much to the table.
Liz - Zero chance, no matter whom she sits next to. She will likely get dragged to the end as a goat, but the tribe is clearly sick of her whining, and - despite all her talk about her “plan” - she hasn’t done a damn thing strategically.
No matter what happens, I predict an entertaining finale!
I agree with your synopsis- Kensie can & will win if she is against Ben and Liz. People kinda like Ben, he might just be given the free ride to #3, which does pay more than #4.
IMO, this how I think the remaining 5 are at making fire:
Maria > Kenzie > Charlie > Ben > Liz
If they don’t want Maria in the final 3, they better not let her win immunity at Final 5, because I think she beats everyone else at fire.
Or don’t let her find the HII, if they re-hide it once again. If Maria survives the first vote, I think she wins.
I agree she’s played the best and strongest game and should she make it to the end ‘deserves’ to win, and probably would.
And I think the the remaining players know that which is why I’m thinking she won’t survive - immunity aside.
So the deciding vote came down to Maria being swayed by Kenzie’s “What will you do with money?” response?? Kind of negates the entire aspect of “who played the strongest game”. 
And Liz is delusional. I thought she would be dragged into the final 3 as the goat.
Charlie played the better game overall, but Kenzie won the social part of the game and that turned out to be enough. Charlie looked stunned for a good while but handled his loss well, IMO.
And Liz was delusional about her game, but I can see why someone might be so, especially in a shorter game where there is less time for reflection. For some reason this season, the jury interaction with the final three at TC seemed to me to be, well, not more confrontational, but certainly more direct and with more spontaneous commentary and back and forth reactions than recent final TCs. Liz should be happy she was spared having her delusions shot down hard by the jury. I don’t think they would have pulled any punches. Ben was much more aware that his play was as not as good as the other two.